


I Thought You'd Miss The Set

by kuumai



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Keith (Voltron)-centric, Krolia (Voltron) is a Good Parent, Mild Hurt/Comfort, POV Keith (Voltron), Post-Season/Series 06
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:08:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23387131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuumai/pseuds/kuumai
Summary: “So… what do we do first?” Pidge asked.Keith didn’t notice she was addressing him until he glanced around and realized abruptly that everyone was looking to him for a response.
Relationships: Allura & Keith (Voltron), Keith & Krolia (Voltron), Keith & Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 106





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Begins immediately following the season 6 finale.

“So… what do we do first?” Pidge asked.

Keith didn’t notice she was addressing him until he glanced around and realized abruptly that everyone was looking to him for a response.

“Um.” He paused for a split second, caught off guard, and hoped that the surprise didn’t show on his face. “First, Romelle and paladins—other than Allura—go look through your lions and figure out how much food and water we have. We need to make sure we can get back to Earth without a detour to stock up. Then we can meet back up and talk about what to do next.”

“Aye aye, captain!” Lance saluted Keith, smiling as though he hadn’t knelt over Shiro and cried just a few minutes earlier. Pidge smacked Lance’s shoulder goodnaturedly, Hunk struck up a conversation with Romelle, and off the four of them went. 

Keith saw Lance hesitate minutely and glance back at Shiro, who was still passed out on the ground before Keith, but he recovered his smile quickly and began to chatter to Pidge about who knows what.

“Allura and Coran,” Keith continued, turning toward the two as he spoke, “I’m not sure what sort of medical attention Shiro needs, but I’m sure he needs it. Considering….” He gestured downward at Shiro.

Allura and Coran made brief, hesitant eye contact with each other before looking back at him. “I would argue,” began Coran, acting as if he were approaching an injured animal, “that you also require medical attention.”

Keith realized, then, that they weren’t meeting his eyes, but rather looking at his cheek, where he was burned. The wound still hurt, which meant the burn didn’t destroy nerves, and the pain wasn’t worsening, which meant it likely wasn’t infected. Also, Shiro was unconscious and Keith wasn’t, which Keith believed was an important factor to consider.

“Shiro first,” he insisted.

Allura opened her mouth to protest, but Keith cut her off.

“I’m not about to keel over. I know my limits, and I can wait. Shiro first.”

Krolia, carefully expressionless, glanced between the three of them silently. Krolia knew the present Keith well, but Allura and Coran knew the Keith from two years ago. Except, they had seen and spoken to past Keith pretty recently, so it was probably difficult for them to understand that he wasn’t the same kid who had left him, and… yeah. The whole situation was weird. Time in the quantum abyss was weird. 

Keith was overcome with the urge to stomp his feet and insist to them that he had grown, that he was more mature than they thought, because it was clear that Allura and Coran weren’t taking his words seriously. To be fair, the Keith from two years ago would have brushed off serious injuries in order to appear strong, or to prove himself a worthy leader, or just to avoid the embarrassment of having attention directed on him. But he wasn’t doing so now. He knew Shiro needed their care more than him at the moment, and he knew he didn’t need to prove himself by doing stupid things that would only bring harm.

Unfortunately, stomping his feet and throwing a tantrum would do nothing useful in the way of convincing them that he had grown, and Allura and Coran were still looking skeptical and waiting for him to say something more.

Keith took a breath. “Just… trust me?”

After a tick, some semblance of understanding passed over each of their faces in turn. Allura nodded decisively and knelt to brush Shiro’s hair out of his face. Coran held Keith’s gaze a moment longer, giving a fond smile that Keith couldn’t quite interpret.

“I’m worried about this,” said Allura. “I’ve never performed magic quite like that before. I don’t know….” She trailed off, voice tinged in concern, and Coran finally broke eye contact to crouch next to her.

Keith wanted desperately to stay and fret over Shiro, but he had implored Allura and Coran to trust him, and they deserved for him to return the favor.

“I’ll go see what kind of supplies we have in the black lion,” he said. “Let me know if you need anything.”

Allura nodded, then gently placed a hand on either side of Shiro’s head and closed her eyes.

Worry surged through Keith once again, but he suppressed it. “Mom,” he said, tilting his head toward black, and together they walked to the lion.

The cargo hold contained several metallic boxes with the signature Altean-blue glow. The wolf perched on one of the boxes and wagged his tail pleasantly when he saw Keith and Krolia. Keith reached out to scratch his head as they passed by. 

There was a bit more clutter in the smaller room jutting off of the cargo hold. Keith had few personal belongings, but in the frenzy to move out of the castle, a few of the others had handed him things here or there to put in the black lion since he had the room.

Keith reached past a stack of old Altean books to grab a box that he knew contained some water pouches and freeze-dried Altean foods. Turning toward Krolia, who was trailing a short distance behind him, he asked, “Would you set this near the entrance?” He thanked her as she relieved him of it.

After a few more steps, Keith spotted a small cot that he had never paid any attention to before. He figured Shiro or Romelle or maybe Krolia would be sleeping there for the next however many quintants their trip would take. At least, once Shiro woke up. And there was the worry again. Keith shook the thought from his head quickly.

For himself, Keith could just lay a blanket on the floor somewhere. Sleeping on a mattress would likely be more uncomfortable than anything else, considering he’d long grown accustomed to sleeping on the back of a space whale.

Sleeping on a space whale. His life was so weird.

Keith finally made it to the cockpit and was surprised to see his helmet on the floor and intact.

“So we didn’t leave that behind,” he mused aloud, bending over to pick it up and tuck it under his arm. “Glad you can keep track of my helmet better than I can, Black.” The floor vibrated beneath him as though Black were purring. Keith smiled and moved forward to run a hand gently over the pilot seat. “Glad we’re getting along better than the last time I was the black paladin.”

He spoke before he could process what he was saying, and after he said it, a wave of bittersweet feeling came over him. He had come to terms long ago with the fact that he would never fly a lion again, and now here he was referring to himself as the black paladin and not even upset about it.

“I wonder if you’ll want Shiro back once he’s able to fly again,” he muttered. He couldn’t sense any clear answer, but in fairness, the lions were all exhausted from their fight with Lotor. For now Shiro was in no shape to fly, considering he was unconscious and missing an arm and, ow, he felt the guilt for taking that arm like it was a physical pain. 

Speaking of physical pain—Keith turned on the HUD and pulled up a video feed so he could see his face. “Oh, no wonder they were worried about my burn.” He was addressing Krolia this time, who he knew had entered the cockpit despite the fact that she hadn’t made a sound. “It doesn’t look too good, does it?”

“No, it doesn’t,” Krolia said from behind him as he continued to inspect his cheek. “But you’re in luck; look what I found.”

He turned to see what she was talking about, and she held up a first aid kit.

“Oh, we should take that to Allura,” Keith said, fully aware that Shiro was not the reason Krolia tracked down a first aid kit.

Unamused, Krolia responded, “Allura has her own lion and, I assume, her own first aid supplies.”

With a sheepish smile, Keith rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine.” Maybe he actually was embarrassed to have attention directed on him.

Krolia returned the smile and gestured away from the cockpit. “Come out here and sit on the cot.”

He turned off the HUD, dropped his helmet in the pilot seat, and followed her.

Keith sat gingerly on the thin, springy mattress, and Krolia’s pleasant expression dropped quickly into a frown. “You’re holding yourself too carefully. Are you injured?” she asked. “Other than the burn, I mean.”

“I don’t think so,” Keith answered honestly. “I’m sure I have some nasty bruises, though.” He unlatched his chestplate and the pieces on his arms and piled all the armor next to him. Krolia vanished into the cargo hold as Keith unzipped the top half of his undersuit and poked at the bruises decorating his midsection. In the short time it took him to do so, Krolia somehow procured a hand towel and a pouch of water.

“No cracked ribs,” Keith announced.

“Lovely. Hold still,” she instructed as she held the towel to his jaw and tilted his head up toward her. He didn’t understand what she was doing until she was already pouring the water on his cheek.

“This won’t be the best treatment, between the limited availability of supplies and my limited medical knowledge,” Krolia said.

“I think I’ll survive,” Keith replied. “It’s not like there was first aid equipment just floating around in the quantum abyss.”

“You didn’t sustain any injuries this severe while we were there. Fortunately.” She gave him a scolding look that he couldn’t quite evade while under instructions to hold still. “You were right that Shiro needed attention more than you, but if this gets infected, it could be dangerous.”

Seeming pleased with her cleaning job, Krolia finally released his face. He dropped his head to look at his lap briefly, then glanced back up at her. The scolding look was replaced with one of concern as she set the now-damp towel aside and shuffled through the first aid kit. Guilt stung him once again. He hadn’t realized he was actually worrying her.

“I’ll be okay,” he assured.

She produced a couple medicinal somethings, and her mouth curved upwards just slightly, as though she didn’t realize she was smiling. “Yeah, I know.”

Just then, the lion shifted, and Krolia and Keith both looked up to see Allura and Coran enter holding each end of some sort of machine.

“Sorry for intruding,” Coran called out from the cargo hold as they carefully set the machine in the midst of the several boxes. “We were in the blue lion, but we presumed you would want the portable cryo-replenisher in here while Shiro is recovering.”

Keith rose to meet them, and Krolia followed. Upon closer inspection, the “machine” was indeed a cryo-replenisher, sans the blue glow it usually emitted, and Shiro was already inside. And they didn’t seem even a little winded from carrying the whole thing. 

Altean strength made Keith so jealous.

Allura gave Keith’s bare torso a once-over and grimaced. “Those bruises do not look pleasant.”

“They don’t feel pleasant, either,” Keith returned.

“Here,” said Krolia, pressing into his palm a small tube of some type of cream Keith couldn’t identify. “Put that on the bruises. And take this. Painkiller and antibiotic combination.” She handed him a pill.

He swallowed the pill dry and twisted the tube open.

Coran looked scandalized. “Seriously? No water?”

“Nope,” Keith replied, applying the ointment to a purple splotch on his side.

With a bright flash, the wolf appeared suddenly next to Krolia, and she busied herself with running her fingers through his fur.

The rest of the paladins, along with Romelle, chose that moment to enter, making approximately as much noise as a roaring robot lion might.

“Where’s Shiro?” Lance shouted as he burst into the room. “He’s—Oh. He’s in here. I thought maybe he had woken up.”

Hunk said, “I was worried Shirogane was Shiro-gone-eh. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. That wasn’t appropriate. The puns get really bad when I’m stressed.”

Keith drew in a deep breath, willing himself not to lose patience. “How about the food and water?”

“We moved a couple boxes of stuff outside for today. Hunk packed so many non-perishables and cooking supplies that we could feed a small army for phoebs,” said Pidge. “Which is exactly what we need, seeing as team Voltron has basically turned into a small army at this point.”

“Cool,” said Keith. “Good. Great.” He would’ve preferred a slightly more quantifiable description, but at least Pidge was actually listening to him, rather than continuing to chatter about Shiro (Lance and Hunk) or becoming distracted by how cute the wolf was (Romelle). “Here, just, let me go put my armor back on,” he said, already walking away.

He tossed the tube of ointment back into the first aid kit and juggled his pieces of armor before realizing he needed to zip up the undersuit first. He reached behind himself, pulling at some ache or bruise, and cringed in pain. “Quiznak!” he burst out. The near-calm he accrued from talking with Black and Krolia had virtually disappeared.

Krolia appeared behind him and laid a hand on his shoulder. “I got it,” she soothed, zipping his suit up to his neck.

“Thank you,” he said quietly, embarrassed, and he could barely hear himself over the noise from the others.

Once he had latched his armor back on, Keith passed Coran, who was saying something along the lines of “so _that's_ where I put those books,” and returned to the cargo hold.

He walked up to Allura’s side, concerned at the distress coloring her expression. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I’m not sure,” she replied, which did nothing to quell Keith’s worry. “I can’t seem to figure out why the pod isn’t turning on.”

“That’s not good,” Hunk said unhelpfully. 

Keith closed his eyes against an oncoming headache.

“Does it need batteries?”

“Altean tech doesn’t run on batteries, genius.”

“He’s not waking up. Why isn’t he waking up? Shouldn’t he be waking up?”

“Shut up! Everyone, shut up!” Keith exclaimed far more loudly than he intended, and wonderful, now they were all staring at him. At least they did shut up. “Sorry,” he amended. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t yell. Can everyone other than Allura and Coran step outside for a tick while we figure out what’s wrong?”

No one argued. Krolia snapped her fingers once to get the wolf to follow her out, and then… silence.

Regret washed over him. But he already apologized, and he knew he shouldn’t dwell on it, so he cleared his throat. “Allura, do you know what might be wrong? How can I help?”

“Oh!” she exclaimed as she inspected one end of the cryo-replenisher. “Coran, remember that little metal piece you tripped over in the blue lion? Could you get that? I think it might go here.” She tapped a spot on the pod.

“Of course, Princess,” Coran said, effacing himself immediately.

And then there were two.

Keith resisted the urge to fold his arms in front of him. He shifted from foot to foot, feeling utterly useless and wishing his mom hadn’t taken the wolf with her so he could have some way to distract himself. Thankfully, Coran reappeared quickly, bearing a metal rectangle with a glowing blue circle on it.

Allura inserted it into the pod. It made a soft clicking noise, the blue lights came on, and a display of Shiro’s vitals appeared on the top. She sighed softly. “Okay. There’s one step down.”

There was a beat of silence, and then Coran said, “You’ve grown a lot, Keith.”

It was so out of the blue and so exactly what he had wanted both of them to recognize earlier that it threw him off balance, and he floundered unsuccessfully for something to say.

Seeing his inability to speak, Coran added, “You’ve learned how to take control of a situation.”

“I snapped at everyone.”

“It was well deserved,” Allura said. “And you apologized immediately afterward. Since when does Keith apologize for acting in anger?”

Keith winced, and Allura did the same a second later.

“That’s—forgive me,” she said. “That wasn’t the most tactful way I could have said that.”

“It’s alright. We’re all a little tired.”

“That’s no excuse for being rude, but it is true,” she conceded. “Nonetheless, I think the point we are both trying to make is that you’ve grown into an admirable leader.”

Keith was again thrown off for a second. “You—I—I’m not sure how I managed to do that after several phoebs of almost no interaction with sentient beings.”

Allura tilted her head, genuinely contemplative. “I think it’s…. You’re more confident in yourself. You hold yourself differently, like you know who you are and you’re not ashamed of it. The others can feel that, too, so they listen to you.”

“Again, I snapped at them.”

“But they listened! What usually happens when you snap at them? Lance snaps back!”

Keith snorted. “You’re right.”

“Of course I am,” she said definitively, declaring the matter finished.

Keith looked at Shiro and laid a hand gently on the glass screen. He could never compare to Shiro, but he understood now that he shouldn’t expect himself to. Even Shiro couldn’t live up to the image everyone seemed to have of him.

Emotion swelled suddenly in Keith’s chest. He didn’t know what he would do with himself if Shiro didn’t wake up.

He exhaled slowly. “I guess we should bring the others back in here and figure out the next step.”


	2. Chapter 2

Keith leaned his weight back on his hands and looked up at the stars.

The team agreed to stay on planet for the day. Keith was anxious to get moving, but he knew it would be more beneficial for the team in the long run if they got an actual meal and a full night of sleep before they began the journey back.

So here he was, sitting still, looking up at the stars.

Krolia was perched cross-legged on a rock a little ways to Keith’s right, meditating. Shiro was napping on the cot in the black lion, and Keith was pretty sure the rest of the team was working on making a campfire. Romelle was beyond excited for Hunk to teach her some human cooking practices. Thankfully, none of the others pressured Keith into participating in the shenanigans. 

Keith thought that he and Krolia had learned a lot about patience from their time in the quantum abyss, but since returning to the team, he was beginning to realize that he had actually grown accustomed to silence. That was likely why he was being a bit short tempered with his talkative teammates. 

He wished he could meditate as well as Krolia did. She taught him a little about it—how to clear his mind, to focus only on his breathing—but he didn’t seem to have her gift for it. He could sit still and stay quiet, which was admittedly a major improvement from the restless spitfire he was as a child, but he usually couldn’t manage to keep himself from thinking about… whatever he happened to be thinking about.

Which, at the moment, was how beautiful the sky looked from this planet.

It couldn’t compare to a night sky in rural Arizona, of course, but that was probably because his memory of it was clouded by nostalgia. Looking at constellations with Pop, driving through the desert with Shiro, searching for what he now knew was the blue lion; he had so many strong emotions and memories associated with that sky.

And… oh. He was actually excited to go back to Earth.

When they first stumbled upon the Castle of Lions and began their stint as paladins of Voltron, he couldn’t empathize with the homesickness the others felt. He had Shiro, he had a job to do, and that was that. Quiznak, he even yelled at Pidge for wanting to leave the team to track down her family. 

And phoebs later, he did the exact thing he rebuked her for considering. He went to stay with the blade and find more about his ancestry. He left his team.

“Keith?”

“Hm?” Keith glanced up to see Shiro, looking like he was expecting a response.

“I said dinner’s ready. Are you okay?”

“I’m good,” he said automatically. “It’s done already? I didn’t know you were even awake.”

“They’ve been working on dinner for a while,” Shiro responded, adopting a concerned look. “And I’ve been awake for a while, too. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah.” Keith pushed himself off the ground and dusted the reddish dirt off his palms. He looked around and realized Krolia was missing from the spot he last saw her in. “I must’ve zoned out for a bit.”

“Okay. If you’re sure.” Shiro smiled, and Keith was overwhelmed yet again by just how much he had missed him. “Ready to go?” Shiro asked.

“Yeah.” He followed Shiro toward the campfire where everyone else was already gathered and sitting on boxes, but only made it a few steps before stopping abruptly. 

Shiro stopped as well and asked immediately, “What’s wrong?”

Keith stared at his feet for a second, then glanced up, feeling unnaturally sheepish. “Do you… do you think you’ll fly Black again? Once you’ve recovered?”

Shiro opened and closed his mouth before his smile returned, this time with a bittersweet edge to it. He shook his head. “She’s yours now.”

“Okay.” Keith took a deep breath and nodded, feeling the urge to apologize but unsure why or how. “Okay.”

As they approached the fire, Romelle was practically bouncing with anticipation. She pressed a spoon and a dish of something into Keith’s hands before he even had a chance to sit down, and rushed away to grab Shiro a meal as well.

Amused, Keith turned to Krolia and nudged her shoulder. “Scoot over.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Where are your manners?”

Lance snickered, and Keith rolled his eyes. “Come on, mom.”

“What do you say?”

“Mom!” Keith felt his face heat up in spite of himself. She knew exactly what she was doing, but she pulled off the totally-serious-mom look so well. “Please?”

Krolia moved to the side of the box to make room for him, and he sat, willing his face to stop turning red. She was wearing the expression that he had come to learn meant she was trying not to smile.

Pretending not to see that Lance was shaking with silent laughter, Keith stuffed a bit into his mouth. “Tastes good,” he said eloquently around the food.

“Did you expect anything less from me?” Hunk asked from across the fire. 

Keith felt the corner of his mouth turn up. “I could never.”

“Alright!” Lance clapped his hands together once as he spoke, having recovered from his laughing fit. “What campfire song should we sing first?”

“How about—just hear me out for a second—we don’t do that?” Pidge said.

“Oh, come on, Pidge,” Lance whined, slumping over dramatically. “You’re no fun.”

As the others launched into their typical animated conversation, Keith felt a pang of nostalgia. He missed seeing them like this. Talking, laughing, happy.

He really, really missed this.

It was almost always harder on him whenever the quantum abyss showed them flashes of the future like this. He had no idea when they would happen. For all he knew, they would never happen, and the flashes were just tempting him with empty hope that he might someday see the paladins again.

He hoped that wasn’t true, but having lived in the quantum abyss with Krolia for so long, he couldn’t help but feel like it would never end.

“What about you, Keith?” Hunk asked.

Keith tuned back into the conversation at the sound of his name, even though he knew Hunk was talking to the future-Keith from the vision. 

There was a beat of silence, and Keith looked up to see why his future self wasn’t responding. Through the smoke of the crackling fire, Hunk was staring back at him.

“Oh,” he said aloud. This wasn’t a scene from the future; this was real. How could he forget so quickly that this was real? He swallowed back a wave of panic. Not now. Not now. “Sorry. What was the question?”

Hunk’s eyebrows scrunched together. “What was your favorite show as a kid?” he asked in a voice that meant he actually wanted to ask something else. He can tell something is wrong with you, whispered a voice in Keith’s head. Keith smothered it.

“Um… The Last Airbender, I guess.”

Pidge laughed. “Wow, how vintage. Isn’t that show from, like, the twenties?”

“It came out in 2005, actually,” said Lance.

Hunk gaped for a second, distracted from his previous concern about Keith. “How—Why do you know that?”

“Because I love The Last Airbender!” Lance said fervently. “Sokka was my favorite!”

“Makes sense,” said Keith. “You basically are Sokka.”

Lance placed a hand over his heart, looking touched. “I think that might be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

Keith shrugged. “I didn’t necessarily mean it as a compliment.”

As Pidge snorted with laughter, Keith took a moment to see what everyone else was up to since he spaced out. Romeller, Coran, and Allura sounded like they were comparing their old Altean traditions, and Krolia was listening politely. And Shiro was… gone. 

Adrenaline bombarded Keith, and he forced himself to take a deliberate breath. Heart beat, return to normal, please. Shiro is fine, and an adult, and can take care of himself, and Keith doesn’t have to keep an eye on him at all times.

Krolia caught Keith’s eye and tilted her head. “What are you looking for?” she asked quietly, just between them.

“Um,” said Keith. He glanced toward her and then away. “Shiro.”

Krolia motioned toward the trees without hesitation, like she knew Keith’s answer before he spoke it. Keith looked in that direction, and there was Shiro, wandering along the edge of the forest.

Keith let out a sigh of relief in spite of himself and wrung his hands in his lap.

Smiling softly, Krolia said, “Go to him if you want.”

Keith squeezed his hands together. “I don’t want to bother him,” he muttered.

In Keith’s periphery, Krolia squinted her eyes as though she could see through armor and cloth and skin to Keith’s very core. “Go to him.”

Keith swallowed. Nodded with fake determination. Stood.

He touched Krolia’s shoulder briefly and headed toward Shiro. 

By the time Keith made it to the edge of the forest, Shiro had noticed him coming and stopped walking, opting instead to lean his back against a trunk and look up at the sky. Keith stood shoulder to shoulder with him, and they shared a comfortable silence until Shiro blurted, “Oh, you’re shaking.”

“I am?” Keith examined his hands, and indeed, they were shaking. 

“Did you eat enough?”

“I think so. Maybe I need sleep.”

“That would make sense.” Shiro paused, looking intently at Keith’s face. “Something’s bothering you. What’s up, kid?”

There was such genuine care in Shiro’s voice and expression that Keith’s eyes stung and his composure was sand slipping between his fingers. “I’m okay. I’m just, uh—” He swallowed over the lump in his throat and clung to the sand fruitlessly. 

“Here.” Shiro lowered himself carefully into a cross-legged position on the ground, then patted the patchy grass on his left. “Let’s talk.”

“Okay.” Keith sat where Shiro indicated and pulled his knees up and toward himself. He took a moment to gather his thoughts into something that might resemble coherent sentences. Shiro didn’t rush him. Endlessly patient Shiro. Keith’s perfect opposite. Where Keith was fiery passion, Shiro was calm understanding. Where Keith was unstable ground, Shiro was balanced and sturdy. Except that, really, they had both grown older, both changed. Keith mellowed out just a bit. Just enough to begin to put on the guise of a leader. He was working on it. 

Keith spaced out again, he realized. He was used to sitting alongside his mother in silence, doing nothing but thinking. At one point, as a dramatic barely-teenager, he had thought that Shiro was the only one who could understand him. And now he had his mother, who looked at him and saw his thoughts. And now he had his team, who were trying so hard to know him. 

He took a deep breath. Exhaled it. “So, before Krolia and Romelle and I came back to fight Lotor we were on a mission in the… we were in a place where time was weird. Like, we were there for something like two years, but barely any time passed for the rest of the universe. And we kept getting these… these _flashes_ of moments. Mostly moments from the past, but sometimes they were visions of the future. And back at the campfire, I was listening to the others talk and I just, I don’t know, for a second I forgot that it was the present. I thought I was seeing the future. And it freaked me out a little.”

“Is that what happened when I came to get you for dinner? And you were confused about what time it was?”

“I don’t think so. I knew where I was and whatever.” Keith tilted his head back and stared at the branches crossing the sky above them. “I guess it’s been hard to adjust to, like the normal passage of time. I know that sounds weird.”

“Not at all. Adjusting to having an actual, physical form hasn’t been the easiest thing in the universe, either,” Shiro said with a wry laugh. “Of course, I’m so, so happy to be back with everyone, but sitting by the fire, it was so… loud. And the box I sat on was too smooth and the fire was too warm and… I don’t know. Everything was too much. When you spend so long alone, with just your thoughts and the dark expanse of space, I guess you get used to the quiet. So that’s why I came over here.”

Keith nodded. A beat passed, and then he dropped his head onto his knees. “I was so scared, Shiro. I was so scared I would lose you.”

Shiro reached his arm around Keith and pulled him into his side. “I’m so sorry, Keith.”

For several moments, Keith rested his head on Shiro’s shoulder and they sat in comfortable silence together once again.

Finally, Shiro placed his hand on Keith’s shoulder and pushed him back so they were at arm’s length again. He seemed to study Keith’s face, and his eyebrows furrowed together.

“What is it?” Keith asked.

“You just… you look so _tired_ , kid.”

“I….” Keith trailed off, blinking. He spent so long focused on defeating Lotor and protecting his team and taking care of Shiro that he didn’t bother to pay attention to how he felt. And, yeah, he was really tired. But beyond that, he realized with surprise that it didn’t entirely matter how tired he was. Not in comparison to all the things he was so grateful for. His team was back together. Shiro and his mom were here. He was flying the black lion and was finally starting to feel like he deserved to. 

“I am tired,” Keith said at last. “But my heart is so full.”

Shiro’s eyes shone suspiciously, but he was smiling more brightly than any star Keith had seen. “I’m glad,” Shiro said simply, and he hugged Keith briefly before pushing himself to his feet. “But you should still get some sleep tonight. Come on.” Keith began to stand up himself, but Shiro stopped him, offering his hand. “I got you,” Shiro said.

Keith took the help, and Shiro hauled him to his feet. Likely still unused to his lack of a metal arm, Shiro overbalanced and stumbled backward, but Keith kept his grip on Shiro’s hand and brought his other hand up to steady Shiro by the elbow. 

“I got you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 07/14/20 - changed quantum realm to quantum abyss. apparently I had Ant-Man on the mind when I wrote this lol


End file.
